Foxconn's late bid will face an uphill battle as the Japanese government, which favors the bid from Western Digital (WDC), would prefer to choose a bidder with fewer ties to China. However, Foxconn's bid is getting some support from within the Toshiba board, who argue that as the conglomerate's biggest profit maker, Toshiba needs to maximize the price it can get for it in order to survive, according to the WSJ report.

The Foxconn bid is more likely to gain antitrust clearance, the report notes:

Foxconn’s boosters say its bid would be more likely to receive antitrust clearance because the Foxconn-led consortium doesn’t include any memory-chip makers. And they say the Taiwanese company’s broad connections in the tech world could help Toshiba’s unit sell more chips and compete with memory-chip leader Samsung Electronics Co.

Toshiba is selling its memory-chip division to help cover big losses at U.S. nuclear business Westinghouse, which filed for bankruptcy in March. Toshiba’s liabilities exceeded assets by nearly $5 billion as of June 30.

Shares in Toshiba were down 1% in Tokyo trading. The stock is up 14% this year.

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